


Shield

by sororexitium



Series: Dragon-Kin [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Tony Stark is a Dragon, he still makes stuff though, like shields
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 05:04:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7604677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sororexitium/pseuds/sororexitium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finally when they reach a small clearing, Tony turns to his human with a grand smile. “We’re here!”</p>
<p>Steve wastes no time taking in his surroundings, sharp eyes seeing probably more than Tony ever would. His human is very perceptive and very rarely does anything get by him. While the dragon-kin and some of the metal workers live within the mountains, the mountain Tony has chosen as his own is situated in a multi-ethnic community, and never does a day go by, when Steve goes to the market, that he doesn’t come back with some new tidbit that he’s picked up. His human takes in the trees, the snow covered ground…other things and sighs. “Okay. We’re here. Why are we here?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shield

**Author's Note:**

> So, I turned this into a series. There will be more of this and it won't particularly be in any real order. I'm going to try to rearrange them in chronological order because I have a lot of ideas and background for these stories...but don't like to force myself to write them in order.

Steve is soft in ways Tony doesn’t always know what to do with.

His little human will likely make him suffer in ways unimagined if ever Tony says something like that out loud. After all, Steve is fierce and stubborn and never lets his size or the poor health he’d suffered stand in his way. Steve takes none of Tony’s shit and argues with him unrepentantly, uncaring about the fact that he stares down a dragon who could easily set him on fire. He will never take kindly to Tony thinking him soft in any way.

But there are little things about him. Tony often times slips into bed some hours after Steve, dragon-kin sleeping far less than that of their human counterparts, and the human will curl closer to his chest, seeking his warmth automatically. Steve also finds it rather amazing that Tony can breathe fire gently enough to light a candle without melting all the wax away, eyes lit up brighter by the blue of his flame. By far Tony’s favorite, though, is the way he gives himself over into passion, sweat glistening on his fair skin and head tossed back as Tony pulls pleasure out of him like it was his true purpose in life.

And Tony just flounders with it, struggling to make sense of it.

Tony doesn’t have many memories of softness such as Steve’s. Even his mother, Maria, had lacked it by the time he was old enough to remember. She had loved him, of course, given him praise and affection. Of her softness, though, there was nothing left. Tony’s father had burned the delicate, simple edges away and what he hadn’t, the council his father had served on had toughened her up the rest of the way.

The cave he’d been born in had been state of the art, filled with all the cutting edge inventions and artifacts from across the lands, some of which Tony had incorporated into his own cave, but most of which had always made him feel like he had to tread carefully in his own home if he didn’t want to face his father’s wrath, or worse, his disdain. Not even his own room had had an ounce of respite to spare him.

It’s why his own cave is so decadent. The silks and angoras which most of his own kin might consider frivolous and a waste of his hard earned gold, especially with how prone to fire the dragon-kin are, but they’re soft and when he touches them he feels closer to centered. And when he touches Steve, it’s like the raging fires inside him calm to a flame no more dangerous than the flame of a candle. It doesn’t hurt that his skin is mostly smooth as well, his body unable to take on all the princely activities that would normally be expected, though Tony is learning that is not for lack of trying.

Several times, he’s seen his little human with one of the carelessly crafted swords Tony had forged below his caves in the earth fires he has flowing in his workshop. Swords are a dime a dozen and as difficult for him to make a loaf of bread is for a baker. Steve still handles the steel with care every time he takes it out of the corner, that one among the other throwaway items Tony had shoved in that particular alcove. When he moves with it, the footwork is always there, the showmanship, and the precise thrusts, but even with the magic of the mountains bolstering his health, he still tires quickly.

There’s always a disappointment in his eyes when he’s forced to admit his limitations and all of that softness goes away, like if he berates himself hard enough his body will catch up with his ambitions. Tony is always quick to chase those thoughts off in any way he can, eager to keep Steve soft in all the ways that matter. As much as he doesn’t know what to do with his gentle, happy edge, he certainly doesn’t want it to burn away like his mother’s. Which might have something to do with where he is right now.

The winter winds are cold outside his cave, and his human, though getting better with the help of the enchanted mountains and a bit of Tony’s own magic, is not immune to the freezing temperatures as some are. Steve’s dressed in all the finest leathers and furs, thick cotton garments, and finely crafted boots. Despite all this, he shivers just hard enough to be visible despite never saying a word about his discomfort as he trudges patiently and stubbornly beside Tony.

He doesn’t even ask about the package Tony carries, which good, because Tony wouldn’t tell him anyway, but bad, because shouldn’t he at least be a little curious as to why they’re wandering the mountain forests during such temperatures when the skies are still gray with night. Snow flutters around them, soft flurries lingering on Steve’s furs but melting before they get to his skin. Tony doesn’t know if Steve has noticed that little trait that being Tony’s consort has granted to him.

Finally when they reach a small clearing, Tony turns to his human with a grand smile. “We’re here!”

Steve wastes no time taking in his surroundings, sharp eyes seeing probably more than Tony ever would. His human is very perceptive and very rarely does anything get by him. While the dragon-kin and some of the metal workers live within the mountains, the mountain Tony has chosen as his own is situated in a multi-ethnic community, and never does a day go by, when Steve goes to the market, that he doesn’t come back with some new tidbit that he’s picked up. His human takes in the trees, the snow covered ground…other things and sighs. “Okay. We’re here. _Why_ are we here?”

Oh, thank the First Dragons. Tony feels a certain sense of giddiness, something he would say he hardly ever gets and holds up the poorly wrapped gift. He’d only bundled it in burlap he’d had lying around and a decent length of rope. It’s hardly as grandly wrapped as he probably could have done had he been thinking about it, but he’d been fairly excited, so much so that he’d woken Steve up from his slumber.

“Because, my pet, I made you something. Actually, I made you a sample and I wanted you to test it before I finished with completely.” With that he takes the bow he’d unevenly fashioned the rope into and yanks at it gently, shaking it and the burlap away from gift he’d made for his consort.

He watches Steve for his reaction, hoping for the best and only a little put out by the confusion he sees in Steve’s eyes. He rolls his eyes softly and holds out the lightweight shield to him, with the explanation, “Brooklyn is a small country most notable for two things. Their iron work and the fact that they’ve never lost a war, yes?” Steve nods, eyes flickering between shield Tony still has on offer and Tony himself. “But your people only just held off the mad wizard, Red Skull…”

“It’s hardly our fault!” Steve snaps, cheeks flushed ruddy red with sudden indignation. He may be a consort in Stark Mountains, but nothing will ever take away his pride in being a child of Brooklyn. “My people fought courageously! Not like any of them had seen a wizard of that magnitude before. We did our best with what we had when our allies were still so far away.”

“I know!” Tony interjects quickly. “I’ve heard the great battles retold in taverns and inns. I do not mean any insult to your people or the great keep that withstood the mad wizard. I just notice…it must be very difficult. For someone with your upbringing and tenacity to have been unable to help your people in battle, I sense that must have been quite upsetting for you.” He sighs softly when Steve’s lips thin, a hint of self-deprecation and doubt in his eyes.

“I’ve seen you with the sword,” he continues. “It isn’t made for you, the weapon itself, not just that one. It calls for you to exert too much of your energy and you have finite reserves of that to begin with. You need to hold yourself a certain way, step a certain way, hold your arm so far out that even the smallest of swords drags you down. You need something that can be held close to you. Like this.” He offers the shield again, patient, but Steve shakes his head.

“Tony, thoughtful though that certainly is, I can hardly hold a wooden shield for any length of time. What makes you think I will be able to hold this?” He shakes his head, looking amused and slightly uncomfortable. Tony doesn’t imagine that his insight about Steve’s shortcoming must have been easy to listen to and take half as well as he had, especially from Tony.

It’s hard to believe that only a few months ago, Steve had glared daggers at him as his young prince and the fair queen had welcomed him into their keep. He’d been angry and suspicious, unhappy with the entire prospect of being a dragon’s companion, let alone a consort. Now, he looks at Tony so fondly, blue eyes bright even under that too hard, unhappiness with himself that Tony is trying to fix right now before it becomes permanent.

He sighs softly and takes a step closer to Steve since his stubborn human hasn’t made any moves to take it himself. “Steve, my sweet, I am a brilliant and overly talented dragon. I play with metal and magic all day long. Trust me when I say, you will be more than capable of carrying this and if any part of it feels odd, as I said, this is only a test. If something is not to your liking, we’ll work it out here until you have the perfect weapon. Now…”

This time when he nudges the shield closer, Steve takes it in his own leather and fur bound fingers, all of him bracing like he anticipates being dragged to the ground with the weight of the metal in his hands. But Tony lets go and Steve wobbles with the over compensation, an aborted sound on his winter dark lips. Brows furrowing and eyes going wide, he hefts the shield in his hands and hopefully finds it to be light as their pillows.

“It’s…” He turns it in his hands easily, slipping his slender arm through the leather straps Tony had fastened to the back. His human looks shocked and pleased, but more than that, his soft little smile comes back at the edge and Tony’s heart lights up with excitement all over again. He leans in pressing their lips together, tasting the bite of winter on his tongue, clean and uncompromising. Cold too. They shouldn’t linger beyond what is necessary. Not until Steve is stronger. “It’s quite an amazing piece of work…but I fail to see how this is a weapon that will replace a sword?”

Tony quickly glides behind his human, graceful as any dragon-kin. “Throw it. Throw it…like _this_.” He demonstrates the proper way to sling the shield. With much less hesitation than Steve had displayed earlier, he twists his lithe body and when he uncoils the shield sails like a disc through the air and slams almost halfway into a large boulder. “Impressive, isn’t it? Of course, it will be more impressive when I’ve worked out how I want the magnets to work. Hardly an efficient weapon for you if you have to chase it, but I wanted to get your feel for what I have so far.”

Grinning, his small human nods, looking at the shield with a pleased little grin on his face, an excited gleam in his eyes. “It’s _very_ impressive…words honestly can’t express how much this means to me. I doubt I will ever have much use for it beyond practice, but the thought behind it is staggering. Thank you.”

Tony feels pleased by that, with himself and his work and most of all Steve. “I’d rather you carry it and have no need for it, than have need of it and not have it.” He moves over to the rock the shield is still lodged in, prying the thin metal loose and patting the old stone in silent thanks before he makes his way back to his human, a small smile on his face as he hands it back. “Because it’s more than just a weapon, you see. It is a shield first and foremost, meant to protect you…”

Steve gets a suspicious look in his eyes, so there must be something about Tony’s sharp features that gives him away. A smile curls on his face and he lets go of the fire that always storms inside him. It’s only a small jet of flame and he’s perfectly in control of it and more than well aware of the amount of heat the spells and metal itself can take, but it looks impressive to most who are not or are not fully dragon-kin.

His human brings the shield up over his face and then crouches down as low as he can, effectively covering himself with the enchanted metal. Tony loses sight of him for long moments as the burst of sky blue fire burns away the softly collected snow and throws the world around them around them into sharp relief. The jet doesn’t last very long, just long enough to show his consort the strength and full possibility of its power.

When the fires have petered away around him, Steve’s head shoots up, mouth open in awe as he slowly stands. He takes in his surroundings once more, eyes widening as he sees melted snow and scorched earth all around him, dollops of watery slush sliding from low-hanging tree branches, sure signs of a fire surrounding a perfect little patch snow around and behind his human.

Steve quickly feels the shield with his free hand, realizing, “It’s barely warm through my gloves! It protects against dragon-fire!”

“It protects against dragon-fire and the strongest magic I can produce. I may still have to take it to a few mages. My friend in the Shadow Mountains has a fairly powerful mage as her companion. He’s lazy, but I’m sure he could be bribed into fortifying the spells if we were to bring him treats.” It would take a few days to get there, even by flight, and he’s sure if they did any traveling at all, Steve would persuade him to take them to Brooklyn and the keep, which while not horrible, it really more traveling that he wants to do.

His thoughts are cut off when his arms are suddenly full of a gangly human who wraps around him like nothing he’s ever seen. Tony would say he’s put out by this, but he’s very much not and he doesn’t believe in lying to himself. He smiles at Steve, wrapping his arms under his thighs to hold him up as he’s kissed with passion and feeling, the cold of his winter-red lips slicing through the heat of his own skin.

“Thank you,” Steve breathes against his lips as he pulls away, smiling at him in that soft way that Tony doesn’t always know what to do with, but he loves nonetheless. He would make and fund the entirety of Brooklyn’s army to keep that smile on his face.

“Anything for you, my pet.”


End file.
